In 2023 testimony, Demirtas slammed the case towards him as a “revenge” trial. (Representational)

Istanbul:

A Turkish courtroom on Thursday sentenced an ex-leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP social gathering to 42 years in jail for his alleged function in lethal 2014 protests that erupted as Islamic State group jihadists overran the Syrian city of Kobane.

Already jailed since 2016, Selahattin Demirtas, 51, a two-time election rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was convicted for dozens of crimes together with undermining state unity and the nation’s integrity.

The courtroom in Sincan on the outskirts of the capital Ankara additionally sentenced HDP’s former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag to 30 years and three months, personal broadcaster NTV and rights group MLSA reported.

The courtroom ordered the discharge of some politicians together with Gultan Kisanak, former mayor of main pro-Kurdish metropolis Diyarbakir within the southeast, however many others had been handed jail phrases.

The case towards former members of the Peoples’ Democratic Occasion (HDP) — together with Demirtas and Yuksekdag — stems from one of many darker episodes of the greater than decade-long Syria struggle.

Thirty-seven folks died in violent demonstrations towards the Turkish military’s inaction within the face of an IS offensive towards the largely Kurdish northern Syrian city.

The preventing was seen from the Turkish facet of the border and plenty of within the nation’s Kurdish group considered the military as complicit within the humanitarian catastrophe that adopted.

The jihadists had been pushed out of Kobane in January 2015 by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters that Turkey formally views as terrorists.

Turkey views the HDP because the political entrance of outlawed Kurdish militants who’ve been waging an insurgency that has claimed tens of 1000’s of lives since 1984.

The HDP blamed Turkish police for inflicting the deaths.

In 2023 testimony, Demirtas slammed the case towards him as a “revenge” trial.

“There isn’t any single proof about me. This can be a case of political revenge, we weren’t legally arrested, we’re all political hostages,” he stated.

Demirtas has been in jail within the western metropolis of Edirne since 2016, dealing with a number of trials on terror-related costs that Western governments view as a part of Erdogan’s crackdown on political dissent.

The European Court docket of Human Rights has repeatedly referred to as for his launch.

-‘Black stain’-

The courtroom verdict towards former leaders and members of the HDP — which faces a courtroom case that would lead to it being shut down — sparked protests.

Lawmakers from the DEM Occasion, which has changed HDP in parliament, unfurled former social gathering leaders’ portraits throughout a session in parliament on Thursday, tapping the tables in a present of protest whereas the social gathering used the social media hashtag “Kobane is our honour”.

Diyarbakir governor’s workplace banned any protest within the metropolis for 4 days.

DEM Occasion’s co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan slammed the decision as “black stain within the historical past of Turkish justice”.

“All of us witnessed a authorized bloodbath right here at the moment,” Bakirhan stated.

“Kurds and revolutionaries had been tried to be erased from the political scene,” he added.

Prosecutors accused the 108 defendants of “attacking the integrity of the state”, and of crimes together with looting and homicide.

They sought an aggravated life sentence for 36 suspects together with Demirtas on costs of attacking state unity and the nation’s integrity.

Defence legal professionals stated they might enchantment the decision, which got here after Erdogan spoke of a “softening” in politics, after his Islamic-rooted social gathering suffered a historic defeat within the March 31 native elections.

“The politics in Turkey wants softening. We’ll do our half as earlier than,” he stated in an deal with on Wednesday.

The difficulty of political prisoners together with main civil society chief Osman Kavala reportedly got here up throughout Erdogan’s uncommon assembly on Could 2 with opposition CHP chief Ozgur Ozel, whose social gathering retained the management of huge cities together with Istanbul and made main good points within the March vote.

On Thursday, an Istanbul courtroom nonetheless rejected a request for Kavala to be retried.

The Paris-born philanthropist was arrested in October 2017 and sentenced to life in 2022 for allegedly making an attempt to topple Erdogan’s authorities.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)